The new era in Iran's history opened in
the 1920s with the coming to power of Reza Khan, a towering figure whose
unique personality and unique career left a deep imprint upon the life of
his nation. Reza Khan's rapid ascent from common soldier to King could be
compared with the rise of Napoleon in France or Bernadotte in Sweden; however,
it was more striking in terms of the social distance covered. Napoleon had
the advantage of going to a military academy before embarking on a regular
army career. Bernadotte was indeed a soldier who carried "the marshal's baton"
in his knapsack and ended as king, but a king in a foreign country, to some
extent imposed by external influence. Not so Reza Shah, who grew up in a
purely Iranian environment, assumed the imperial rank among his own people,
and thus created a real saga of a self-made man against the background of
Iran's monarchical tradition.

In his national
policies two main features stood out: nationalism and modernization. In this
respect he could be compared to Peter the Great, who launched Russia from
her medieval slumber upon a path of modernity. Among his contemporaries Reza
Shah was frequently compared to his neighbor, Kemal
Ataturk seen left greeting Reza Shah, of whose attitudes and reforms
he was fully aware. The two leaders had certainly a good deal in common:
their burning nationalism, their determination to modernize their countries,
and their critical attitude towards the intrusion of religion into the public
life of their respective nations. But the two also differed considerably
from each other. While Ataturk was willing to burn the bridges with the past,
Reza Shah not only maintained the institution of monarchy but also promoted
a revived consciousness of ancient Achaemenian glory, particularly through
architectural symbolism. In this sense, of course, he was more fortunate
because his nation had had a long record of civilized life when the Turks
were still leading a nomadic existence in the steppes of central Asia.

In the subsequent chapters a group of specialists will review in greater
detail the achievements of both Reza Shah and his son and successor, Mohammad
Reza. In these introductory remarks we will limit ourselves to the main points
in the work and struggles of these two rulers. Reza Shah's achievements could
be summed up under three headings: building up the infrastructure of a modern
state, asserting independence from foreign domination, and launching
sociocultural reforms. With regard to the first, Reza Shah did indeed lay
down the foundations without which a modern state could not function. These
included assertion of government authority and national unification in the
face of various centrifugal and anarchistic forces; the creation of a reliable
army under national command; establishment of a modern fiscal system based
on rational organization; and development of the minimum of communications
and transportation facilities compatible with the requirements of a modern
state.

Assertion of independence from foreign occupation and control was the second
major achievement of Reza Shah. At the very outset of his rule he had to
face the threat of militant Communism imported into Iran with the advancing
Red Army which, despite the repudiation by the Bolsheviks of czarist Russia's
imperialistic practices, fell into the old pattern of occupying the northern
provinces of Iran and threatening the integrity of the entire state. This
struggle for emancipation from foreign control was marked by two crises.
The first was the Soviet attempt to set up a separatist Communist government
in the province of Gilan. This required both military and diplomatic
countermeasures, the outcome being the conclusion of the Soviet-Iranian Treaty
of February 1921 and the subsequent withdrawal of Soviet troops from Iranian
territory. The treaty, however, was negotiated by Iranian representatives
in Moscow while Reza Khan, not yet fully in power, was personally commanding
military operations against the northern rebels and their Soviet allies.
This perhaps explains why the treaty was burdened with an onerous clause
in the form of article 6 authorizing entry of Soviet troops into Iranian
territory, should the latter become a base for anti-Soviet aggression. Although
the attached memoranda made it clear that the provision in question comprised
only the toleration by the Iranian government of the anti- Soviet activities
of White Russian elements against the Soviet territory, in subsequent years
Moscow tended to give a more comprehensive interpretation to this clause
by including in it Iran's formal ties with Western powers during the period
following World War II, which clearly was not encompassed by the terms of
the original clause. Regardless, however, of the text of the treaty in question,
Reza Shah succeeded in removing the Soviet presence in Iran and in effectively
curbing the activities of Soviet agents and their Communist allies inside
the country.

The second crisis
that the Shah faced was the one with Great Britain. It revolved around oil,
the concession for which was held by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, the latter
in turn controlled by the British Admiralty. Relations between Great Britain
and Iran profoundly differed from those between Iran and Russia.
(Left, Reza Shah inspects newly acquire ships from Italy.
In the background is the Iranian gunboat "Babr," Leopard sunk by the British
during World WarII) While Britain exercised imperial control in
India, the Persian Gulf, and the Middle East, she was essentially a status
quo power not bent on territorial aggrandizement and not guided by a militant
or aggressive ideology. Iler interest in Iran focused largely on the preservation
of such economic advantages as she or her citizens had achieved in that country.
Therefore, from the point of view of Iran's independence, Britain was not
only a country in a different category from the Soviet Union, but even could
be counted upon as providing a counterbalance to the Soviets' actual or potential
aggressive designs. This, however, did not diminish Britain's economic
self-interest, which was based on somewhat outmoded notions regarding the
relationship between the metropolis and the colonies or semicolonies. Although
the showdown between Reza Shah and the British over oil in the early 1930s
abounded in moments of tension and recrimination, it ended by a compromise
in which rationality and restraint were displayed by both parties.

In his pursuit of policies aiming at the safeguarding of national independence
and security, Reza Shah was ready to cooperate with the neighboring states
which, like Iran, were anxious to safeguard their integrity against possible
Soviet expansion and subversion. To this end he entered, in 1937, into a
regional alliance known as the Saadabad Pact, the other signatories being
Turkey, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Furthermore, not unlike his Constitutionalist
predecessors of the period preceding World War I, Reza Shah was inclined
to look for a friendly third force that would help Iran free herself from
Soviet menace and British influence. Thus he repeated the experiment of 1911
when an American expert, Morgan Shuster, had been brought to Iran to reorganize
Persian finances by inviting in the early 1920s another American, Dr. Arthur
Chester Millspaugh, to assist in the reorganization of the Iranian treasury.
After some years a German, Dr. Kurt Lindenblatt, was appointed governor of
the national bank, while numerous German technicians were invited to advise
Iran in developing her industry and communications. Although these contacts
with the United States and Germany respectively did not represent a movement
toward political or military alliance, nevertheless they were conceived by
the Shah and his ministers as a material factor in reducing Iran's dependence
upon her two powerful imperial neighbors.

Left,
Reza Shah inaugurates the Trans-Iranian. The task of rebuilding,
unifying, and strengthening the state consumed so much time and energy that
to an outside observer it is little short of amazing that Reza Shah found
enough strength to enact a number ofsocial and cultural reforms, some of
which had to be imposed against fierce opposition from various entrenched
interests. The main thrust of these reforms was to transform the hitherto
lethargic masses into a new and enlightened citizenry that would actively
participate in the development of the country. Reza Shah was thus a pioneer
in introducing what we may call a meritocracy in Iran's national life. Under
his reign it was not inherited wealth or connections that counted but actual
competence and performance. He was impatient with slothful and lazy officials
and prone to dismiss or punish those who failed in their tasks or betrayed
his trust. Having a dim view of the role played in the society by reactionary
and often semiliterate mollas, (clerics) he took away from the religious
establishment its judicial and educational responsibilities while developing
under the state auspices a modern school system with the University of Tehran,
opened in the 1930s, at its apex.* He was also the first ruler in Iran to
call for the emancipation and education of women. Aware of the shortage of
the skilled manpower in his country, Reza Shah was willing to employ foreign
experts. However, to avoid encouraging the foreign political influence that
such experts might represent, he made it a point to hire them on an individual
basis and to place them under Iranian control. Such experts, for instance,
were employed in constructing the Shah's cherished project, the Trans-Iranian
Railway. However, he took care not to rely on technicians of any single
nationality and, furthermore, deliberately avoided dependence on foreign
governments by providing exclusively Iranian financing of the project. Above
all, he instilled in his people a sense of pride and self-reliance.